SEATTLE — It stands as a testament to the human spirit.
"Hidden in plain sight," said capital campaign manager Nicole Klein.
The Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW) Shell House, once a Navy seaplane hangar, has witnessed more than 100 historic years here on the shores of the Montlake Cut.
"Seattle has a connection to rowing," said UW rowing historian Eric Cohen said. "It's been a huge part of who we are. This building is a representation of that community spirit and that community connection."
No year was more glorious than 1936. The University of Washington rowing team earned a spot in the pre-war Berlin Games, where the underdogs toppled Hitler's team to take Olympic gold.
The shell house was their headquarters.
"It's pretty exciting to stand in it," Klein said, "Eight national titles from this building. We beat the world from a World War I hangar."
At the height of the Great Depression, the ASUW Shell House was the rowers' home away from home. They trained and practically lived here, too.
"The bonds that you build are unbreakable," Cohen said. "It becomes like a family because you have so much shared sacrifice."
The boats they raced were crafted in this building by the famed Seattle boatbuilder George Pocock.
"And they would go up and talk to George once in a while, and seek wisdom from him," Cohen said.
Pocock had an almost mystical presence. He could read the water as skillfully as he could hew the grain of a Western red cedar.
"We are entering the George Pocock workshop," tour guide Melanie Barstow told us as she scaled the wooden steps leading to a long second-story loft. "It's a sacred place."
This loft gave birth to the very boat that beat Hitler.
"They would actually send it out through a window," Barstow said.
The gold medal team's story has been immortalized in the book and upcoming movie "The Boys in the Boat." And so has the ASUW Shell House.
"It really is a place where you can experience history and feel a connection to the past," Klein said.
Those boys live on in these walls and rafters.
"I feel that feeling every time I walk in," Cohen said.
"It's about the best of who we are. This building represents grit and determination, pulling together through hard things," Klein said.
"This human story that we all can relate to," Barstow said, "from the boys in the boat."
To learn more about the fundraising effort for the ASUW shell house restoration click on this link.
Click here to learn more about Melanie Barstow's shell house tours.